HIF-1 is involved in the regulation of expression of metallothionein and apoptosis incidence in different oxygen conditions in the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei.

The white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei is exposed to hypoxic conditions in natural habitats and in shrimp farms. Hypoxia can retard growth, development and affect survival in shrimp. The hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) regulates many genes involved in glucose metabolism, antioxidant proteins, including metallothionein (MT) and apoptosis. In previous studies we found that the L. vannamei MT gene expression changed during hypoxia, and MT silencing altered cell apoptosis; in this study we investigated whether the silencing of HIF-1 affected MT expression and apoptosis. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) was used to silence HIF-1α and HIF-1ß under normoxia, hypoxia, and hypoxia plus reoxygenation. Expression of HIF-1α, HIF-1ß and MT, and apoptosis in hemocytes or caspase-3 expression in gills, were measured at 0, 3, 24 and 48 h of hypoxia and hypoxia followed by 1 h of reoxygenation. The results showed that hemocytes HIF-1α expression was induced during hypoxia and reoxygenation at 3 h, while HIF-1ß decreased at 24 and 48 h. In normoxia, HIF-1 silencing in hemocytes increased apoptosis at 3 h and decreased at 48 h; while in gills, caspase-3 increased at 3, 24 and 48 h. In hypoxia, HIF-1 silencing decreased apoptosis in hemocytes at 3 h, but caspase-3 increased in gills. During reoxygenation, apoptosis in hemocytes and caspase-3 in gills increased. During normoxia in hemocytes, silencing of HIF-1 decreased MT expression, but in gills, MT increased. During hypoxia and reoxygenation, silencing induced MT in hemocytes and gills. These results indicate HIF-1 differential participation in MT expression regulation and apoptosis during different oxygen conditions.

Participation of HIFs in the regulation of Sertoli cell lactate production.

Hypoxia Inducible Factors (HIFs) are master regulators of glycolytic metabolism. HIFs consist of a constitutive HIFbeta (HIFß) subunit and a HIFalpha (HIFα) subunit, whose half-life depends on prolyl-hydroxylases activity. Inhibition of prolyl-hydroxylases by hypoxia or transition metals, or augmentation of HIFα subunit levels by hormonal stimuli lead to a higher HIF transcriptional activity. On the other hand, it is well known that lactate produced by Sertoli cells is delivered to and used by germ cells as an energy substrate. The aim of this work was to investigate whether HIFs participate in the regulation of lactate production in rat Sertoli cells and whether they are involved in the FSH mechanism of action. In order to reach a higher HIF transcriptional activity, Sertoli cells were treated with CoCl2. We observed that a higher HIF transcriptional activity leads to an augmentation of: lactate production, glucose uptake and LDH activity. Besides, an increase in Glut1, Pkm2 and Ldha mRNA levels was observed. These findings suggested that HIFs may participate in the modulation of Sertoli cell nutritional function. As FSH regulates lactate production, we evaluated whether HIFs were involved in FSH action. Sertoli cells were stimulated with FSH in the absence or presence of LW6, a drug which promotes HIFα subunit degradation. On the one hand, we observed that FSH increases HIF1α protein, Hif1α and Hif2α mRNA levels and, on the other hand, that LW6 inhibits FSH-stimulated lactate production, glucose uptake, Glut1, Pkm2 and Ldha expression. It is proposed that HIFs are key components of the intricate pathways utilized by FSH to regulate the provision of lactate for germ cells. Considering that FSH is the master endocrine regulator of Sertoli cells, it is not surprising that this hormone may employ several regulatory mechanisms to fulfill the nourishing functions of this cell type.

Polymorphism in cathelicidin gene (CAMP) that alters Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α::ARNT) binding is not associated with tuberculosis.

Polymorphisms in the CAMP gene (cathelicidin) have not been tested in tuberculosis susceptibility. We tested polymorphisms rs9844812 (HIF-1α::ARNT binding site) and rs56122065 (CAMP) plus rs1800972 (DEFB1). SNP rs1800972 was associated with extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in a codominant model (genotype CG, P = 0.037, OR 4.82; 95% CI: 0.92-47.42; statistical power, 82%), but not PTB (P = 0.101) in a Mexican population.

Influência dos alelos R e S do gene Slc11a1 na suscetibilidade à carcinogênese de pele induzida por 7, 12-dimetilbenzantraceno / Influence of R and S alleles of Slc11a1 gene in the susceptibility to skin cancer induced by 7 12-Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene

Camundongos AIRmax e AIRmin diferem na sensibilidade à carcinogênese, sendo os AIRmin mais sensíveis à carcinogênese de pele devido ao seu fundo genético e um polimorfismo no gene Ahr. Mais que isso, estas linhagens possuem um desequilíbrio de frequência dos alelos do gene Slc11a1. Para estudar a interação dos alelos de resistência (R) ou suscetibilidade (S) do gene Slc11a1 com os loci de resposta inflamatória aguda dos animais AIRmax e AIRmin, foram produzidas sublinhagens homozigotas para estes alelos:AIRmaxRR, AIRmaxSS, AIRminRR e AIRminSS. Nosso objetivo foi investigar a diferença de sensibilidade à carcinogênese de pele induzida por DMBA nestas sublinhagens. A incidência de câncer de pele foi de 7% nos animais AIRminRR e de 13% nos animais AIRminSS.Os animais AIRmaxSS não apresentaram câncer de pele, mas a incidência de câncer em órgãos internos foi 100% nesta sublinhagem.Esses dados mostraram que os camundongos AIRmaxSS tem maior suscetibilidade à carcinogênese, sugerindo que o alelo S, no fundo genético AIRmax, pode influenciar na suscetibilidade ao câncer.

Mice AIRmax and AIRmin differ on sensibility to carcinogenesis. AIRmin mice are significantly more sensitive to skin carcinogenesis than AIRmax mice due to the genetic background and the polymorphism of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr) gene. Furthermore,these mice have an imbalance of frequency of Slc11a1 gene alleles.To study the interaction of resistant (R) or susceptible (S) Slc11a1 alleles with acute inflammatory reaction loci found in AIRmax and AIRmin mice, homozygous sublines for these alleles were produced: AIRmaxRR, AIRmaxSS, AIRminRR and AIRminSS. The objective of this study was to investigate the difference in skin carcinogenesis sensibility induced by DMBA agent in these sublines.The incidence of skin cancer was 7% in AIRminRR mice and 13% in AIRminSS mice.AIRmaxRR and AIRmaxSS mice did not show skin cancer, but the incidence of internal organs cancer was 100% only in AIRmaxSS mice. These data showed that AIRmaxSS animals have higher susceptibility, suggesting that the S allele in the AIRmax background could influence susceptible to cancer.

Molecular characterization of hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) from the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei and tissue-specific expression under hypoxia.

Hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a key transcription factor that regulates a variety of molecular responses to hypoxia. Some marine crustaceans experience changes of oxygen tension in their aquatic environment, but knowledge about the function and expression of HIF-1 is very limited. HIF-1 is a heterodimer composed by alpha and beta subunits. We report the complete cDNA sequences of HIF-1alpha and HIF-1beta from the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. HIF-1alpha (LvHIF-1alpha) is 3672bp and codes for 1050 amino acids, while HIF-1beta is 2135bp (LvHIF-1beta) and 608 amino acids. Both, the alpha and beta subunits have the helix-loop-helix (bHLH) and PAS domains. HIF-1alpha also has the oxygen dependent degradation (ODD) and the C-terminal transactivation domain (C-TAD), important for regulation in normoxia. Phylogenetic analyses of the proteins indicate separation of invertebrates from vertebrates. Large differences of HIF-1alpha and HIF-1beta transcripts abundance were detected in gills, hepatopancreas and muscle under normoxia (6mg/L dissolved oxygen, DO) and hypoxia (2.5 and 1.5mg/L DO). HIF-1alpha was more abundant in gills and HIF-1beta in hepatopancreas. Large changes in response to hypoxia were detected for HIF-1alpha in gills, while HIF-1beta remained fairly constant. Glucose and lactate in hemolymph increased rapidly in hypoxia in all cases and up to 4.7 and 5.0-fold, respectively, in response to 1.5mg/L DO for 1h.

The insulin-PI3K/TOR pathway induces a HIF-dependent transcriptional response in Drosophila by promoting nuclear localization of HIF-alpha/Sima.

The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is a heterodimeric transcription factor composed of a constitutively expressed HIF-beta subunit and an oxygen-regulated HIF-alpha subunit. We have previously defined a hypoxia-inducible transcriptional response in Drosophila melanogaster that is homologous to the mammalian HIF-dependent response. In Drosophila, the bHLH-PAS proteins Similar (Sima) and Tango (Tgo) are the functional homologues of the mammalian HIF-alpha and HIF-beta subunits, respectively. HIF-alpha/Sima is regulated by oxygen at several different levels that include protein stability and subcellular localization. We show here for the first time that insulin can activate HIF-dependent transcription, both in Drosophila S2 cells and in living Drosophila embryos. Using a pharmacological approach as well as RNA interference, we determined that the effect of insulin on HIF-dependent transcriptional induction is mediated by PI3K-AKT and TOR pathways. We demonstrate that stimulation of the transcriptional response involves upregulation of Sima protein but not sima mRNA. Finally, we have analyzed in vivo the effect of the activation of the PI3K-AKT pathway on the subcellular localization of Sima protein. Overexpression of dAKT and dPDK1 in normoxic embryos provoked a major increase in Sima nuclear localization, mimicking the effect of a hypoxic treatment. A similar increase in Sima nuclear localization was observed in dPTEN homozygous mutant embryos, confirming that activation of the PI3K-AKT pathway promotes nuclear accumulation of Sima protein. We conclude that regulation of HIF-alpha/Sima by the PI3K-AKT-TOR pathway is a major conserved mode of regulation of the HIF-dependent transcriptional response in Drosophila.